


The Hogwarts Chanukah Party

by xslytherclawx



Series: Chanukah 5780 [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Anthony Goldstein, Bisexual Neville Longbottom, Canon Compliant, Canon Jewish Character, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Hanukkah, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Round 1, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Jewish Character, Jewish Holidays, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:08:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21667183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: It was clear even to Anthony that Neville still wasn’t totally sure of himself when it came to everything that properly being boyfriends entailed.It had been two months since Anthony had first asked Neville out, and now, he was going to ask Neville to spend Chanukah with him.
Relationships: Anthony Goldstein/Neville Longbottom
Series: Chanukah 5780 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562047
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: All Your Faves Are Jewish, Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Round One!, xslytherclawx & thestias's harry potter multiverse, xslytherclawx's Prompt Collection, xslytherclawx's jewish fic





	The Hogwarts Chanukah Party

**Author's Note:**

> Chag Chanukah Sameach!  
> This is the first in my eight part Chanukah series. Posting may get a bit iffy bc I'll be on Birthright in Israel from 23 December until after the end of Chanukah - everything is written and saved as a draft, so it should go according to plan!  
> This is a prequel to [Of Furbies and Dark Magic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21084233)

It was clear even to Anthony that Neville still wasn’t totally sure of himself when it came to everything that properly being  _ boyfriends _ entailed. He didn’t seem unhappy (and always adamantly shut down the very possibility whenever Anthony tried to ask), and they spent almost all of their free time together, but still.

Really, Neville had been made Head Boy (a position he well deserved, though Anthony hadn’t had any luck convincing him of that fact), and Hermione hadn’t yet said anything about them patrolling together… though, really, Anthony had been a prefect since fifth year. He wasn’t about to skive off of patrols to snog his boyfriend when they had plenty of time for that. 

When they patrolled together (which was often), they actually did do their job – it was just, for them, another way to be together. By the lake, in the Great Hall, sneaking into each other’s dormitories because neither of them could manage to sleep alone anymore – it wasn’t as if they needed to use patrols to spend time together.

Really, excluding some initial rockiness between Michael and Ginny, even their friends got on. They’d sort of become their own little unit: Anthony, Neville, Michael, Terry, Hermione, Luna, and Ginny. He supposed it really only made sense; they’d all become much closer in the D.A., and as for Hermione – neither Harry nor Ron had elected to come back to actually complete their seventh year, she and Ginny and Neville (and, arguably, Luna) had been friends before, and she and Anthony had always got on.

It had been two months since Anthony had first asked Neville out, and now, he was going to ask Neville to spend Chanukah with him.

He told Hermione as they started organizing the school Chanukah party (a tradition dating back at least since the 1980s).

“Oh, Anthony, I think that’s a fantastic idea,” she said. 

“You think so?”

“Absolutely,” Hermione said. “I think he’ll really appreciate it.”

So Anthony asked him later that night, as they lay together in Neville’s bed in Gryffindor Tower.

Neville didn’t ask what Chanukah was – but then again, he’d been friends with Hermione for years, hadn’t he? Insead, he asked, “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Anthony said. He kissed him. “I want you to be there, though if you think you’d be uncomfortable… you don’t have to go, of course.”

“But you want me to?”

“Yeah,” Anthony said. “I want you to.”

“I really don’t know much about Chanukah,” Neville said.

“That’s fine. You won’t have to. Loads of people bring their friends or boyfriends or girlfriends. We’ll light candles and sing songs and eat fried food and drink wine. And this year, because Hermione and I are running it, the wine won’t be watered down. We’ve gotten some grape juice for the younger students. That was our main complaint about the old Chanukah parties.”

“That the wine was watered down?” Neville asked.

“It’s a school holiday party,” Anthony said quickly. “It’s nothing wild. But it’s just that – there’s Jewish law. And neither of us think it’s permissible within those laws to water down the wine as much as they used to. It’s supposed to taste the same, and it  _ definitely _ did not.”

“Oh,” Neville said. He looked like he wanted to say something else, so Anthony waited. “I, er, is that all?”

“No,” Anthony said. “It just… looked like you wanted to say something else?”

Neville blushed. “It’s stupid.”

“I’m sure it’s not,” Anthony said. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but, whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not stupid.”

“It’s just… I didn’t know there were Jewish laws about wine. But if there are, and the party wasn’t following them, that’d make sense that you and Hermione are doing it differently.”

“That wasn’t stupid,” Anthony said. “There’s hundreds of Jewish laws, and a lot of them  _ are _ about wine, but also about nearly everything else. Neither Hermione nor I are Orthodox, but – my Gran’s family is, and they follow them all as best they can, and there’s different interpretations that Muggles and Wizards have come up with, but… it’s pretty clear that the wine needs to taste like wine. And – before you say anything, I really don’t know all of the laws. It just seemed off to me that the wine was so watered down, so I asked my uncle, who’s a rabbi, and that’s like, his  _ job  _ to know Jewish law.”

“Oh,” Neville said. “That’s a bit intimidating.”

“How?” Anthony asked. 

“Your uncle’s job is to know everything about being Jewish. Don’t you think that’s a bit intimidating?”

“Well, no one can know  _ everything _ about being Jewish. A big part of Judaism’s whole shtick is that we’re meant to be constantly learning what we can. But – no, I don’t think my Uncle Isaac is intimidating. I mean, you should meet him; he’s probably the most down-to-earth person in my family.”

“You want me to meet your uncle?”

Anthony blushed as he realised what he’d said. “If you’d like to. He lives in America now, but he visits at least once a year.”

Neville blushed. “I, er, I think that’d be nice,” he said.

Anthony was all too aware that neither of them had said ‘I love you’ quite yet, but he thought that inviting his boyfriend of two months to meet his extended family and all the madness that entailed was probably a bit more intimate.

* * *

“You know,” Ginny said one day in Potions class (which Neville didn’t share), “Goldstein, I think you’re finally Neville’s longest relationship.”

“Mine, too,” Anthony said. After all, while it wasn’t as if he hadn’t gone out on  _ dates _ before, he’d also never quite had a relationship last longer than two months. They were both sort of new at this.

“If you hurt him, I’ll kill you.”

“That’s a bit extreme,” Terry said.

“I have absolutely no intentions of ever hurting him,” Anthony said, ignoring Terry.

“Good,” Ginny said. “Because Corner can tell you how good my Bat Bogey Hex is.”

“Still don’t understand why you had to do that,” Michael said. “It’s not as if I was hurting anyone.”

“Perhaps it’s best not to get into this while we’re meant to be paying attention to what we’re doing?” Terry said. “I, for one, don’t fancy a trip to the hospital wing today.”

“Fine,” Ginny said. “But I’m serious, Goldstein.”

“I know you are,” Anthony said. “So am I.”

* * *

“He thinks you’re intimidating,” Luna said to him in the Ravenclaw common room. Neville was meeting with Professor McGonagall.

“I’m sorry, who does?” Anthony asked. She had, after all, approached him apropos of nothing.

“Neville,” Luna said. 

Anthony frowned. “He thinks I’m  _ intimidating? _ How? He’s – he’s kind and brave and gorgeous and lovely and – I didn’t even think he really knew who I was before last year.”

“I think it’s mostly that you’re so kind to everyone. Not a lot of people have always been kind to him. It’s really just been Ginny and Hermione – and me, of course, but I haven’t known him as long as they have.”

“That’s bollocks,” Anthony said. “Neville’s the best person I know – I mean, fuck,  _ you _ dated him! You know how wonderful he is!”

“I do,” Luna said. “But surely you’ve noticed that he’s been a bit uncomfortable with it all.”

Loath as he was to admit it… “I have.”

“He quite likes you,” Luna said. “He’s mad for you, really. But he’s never really had good nerves. He just got better at hiding it.”

“That… makes sense.” He’d known Neville longer than she had, after all, even if they hadn’t gotten close until later. No one who’d known Neville since first year would question that he’d, at least at one point, had anxiety. But, well, Anthony was probably one of three people in his family who’d never seemed to have excessive anxiety (but then maybe he did, and his anxiety just wasn’t at the level of his father, or uncle, or aunt, or grandparents…).

“I don’t think he’s as threatened by your intelligence as you might think. He accepts that. I think it’s how you treat him – how you treat  _ everyone,  _ really, but especially him. And he knows that you talk about him.”

“I’d never say anything bad about him,” Anthony said. “He has to know that.”

“Of course he does,” Luna said. “And do you think Ginny and Hermione could say the same? They’re my friends, and I love them very much, but they’re not always very kind.”

“Oh,” Anthony said.

“You’re very kind, and you’re clever, and handsome, and honest. And he doesn’t think that he’s any of those things, even though you and I both know he is.”

* * *

The downside of planning this party with Hermione was that she refused to let the House Elves do anything. It wasn’t like Anthony supported slavery in any form, even House Elves who weren’t getting a fair wage, and with the Room of Requirement still out of commission, there really wasn’t any other alternative, but he’d had this idea of walking in with Neville together, and helping Hermione with set-up sort of spoiled that.

Realistically, Hermione very well could have organized everything and set everything up herself. She was terrifyingly capable, and he probably only slowed things down. But she seemed to enjoy his company, and he didn’t want to shirk a responsibility he’d signed up for just to spend an extra ten minutes with his boyfriend.

When they were done, the room looked better than any Chanukah party Hogwarts had seen before. The walls were draped in blue silk, there was a big buffet table laid out with fried food (charmed to stay warm and crispy), a grape juice fountain for the younger students, and a table with wine (and an age line, set up by none other than Hermione). 

Best of all was the long, empty table by the windows, where they’d put their chanukiot. His and Hermione’s already stood proudly near the windows, though they, of course, hadn’t lit a single candle yet.

Neville was one of the first to arrive, and he looked around the room with a sort of awestruck expression. “This looks incredible,” he said.

Anthony smiled. “Thanks. Hermione did most of the work.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Anthony was an indispensable help. He’s just being modest.”

Neville smiled, and Anthony could read is expression clear as day:  _ of course he is. _ Were it anyone else, he might have half a mind to protest, but he sort of loved that Neville knew him so well. 

So he stepped close to him and kissed him. He kept it very chaste, because a first year could walk in at any given moment, but he enjoyed it all the same. Neville was quite a good kisser.

When they pulled apart, Anthony wrapped his arm around him, letting his hand settle comfortably on Neville’s hip. It felt natural. Like it belonged there. But then pretty much everything with Neville had felt that way so far. It might have been terrifying how easy everything was with him, how fast things were going, but Anthony really just felt happy.

“Can I get you some wine?” Anthony asked. “You’re not Jewish, so you don’t need to wait for the blessings before you drink.”

“Do you not remember what happened the last time I drank?” Neville countered.

“Well, it’s hardly as if I’ll be offended if you were to tell me you want to snog me.” Anthony kissed his cheek. “There’s also grape juice, if you’d rather not have wine.”

“I think it’s probably best to start with the juice,” Neville said.

“Juice it is,” Anthony said.

* * *

It’s not as if Anthony had never had someone, in that way, during Chanukah. He’d dated a few people before Neville, and sometimes those relationships had overlapped with Chanukah, and it had always been  _ nice. _

He couldn’t remember ever being this nervous before. It wasn’t like he was going to ask Neville to  _ marry _ him, or anything that stupid, but he  _ really _ wanted Neville to have a good time.

He snuck kisses in when he could, and helped Hermione lead all of the blessings – and helped some of younger students light their candles. He sang along to Maoz Tzur, drank some wine, ate some latkes, and the whole time, he stuck close to Neville.

“Do you miss your family during Chanukah?” Neville asked after a while.

“Of course,” Anthony said. “Though it’s not been the same since – well, before the war, and we always have a big Shabbos dinner whenever term’s over.”

“We never did a big Christmas growing up,” Neville said. “Not after my granddad died. Mostly… Gran and I go in to visit my parents. I can’t even remember the last time we had a proper tree. She’ll give me a gift or two, of course, but it’s not… how it is for a lot of people.”

“Our big holiday, really, is Passover. That’s when everyone does their best to get together – and of course, there’s always some family drama and arguments that should have been buried twenty years ago. I love my family – really – but I’m glad we only do one big family Seder. The rest of the holiday is really just me and my parents, and maybe my grandparents one night.”

“That sounds nice,” Neville said.

“It is,” Anthony said. “You should, er, you should come by for our big Shabbos dinner this year. You wouldn’t really need to know anything, and it’s not – it’s not  _ that _ big. It’s just my parents, and my grandparents, and my Aunt Miri and Uncle Iain. Uncle Isaac and Uncle Dan used to come, obviously, but they’re not going to fly all the way from America for that. They usually phone us at some point during the night to say hello.”

“You want me to meet your family?”

“Yeah,” Anthony said. “I think they’d like you. But if you think it’s too soon – I completely understand.”

“I don’t think it’s too soon,” Neville said. “I’m just worried about making an arse of myself. Can we – do you mind if we talk about this later?”

“Of course not,” Anthony said. He kissed him. “Think about it all you want, and we can talk about it whenever you’d like.”

The room was beautiful, lit up by a dozen chanukiot, and students were milling about and talking and laughing with their friends. Anthony had always loved the sense of community he’d found with other Jewish students at Hogwarts. He was struck, in the moment, by how much he’d miss it. There were Wizarding synagogues, of course, but that wasn’t the point. Maybe he and Hermione could arrange something – after all, between the two of them, they probably knew every Jewish student in the school.

His hand was still on Neville’s waist, and everything about the moment was really perfect.

And then Neville said, “I love you.”

He’d never said that before (they’d only been together for two months, after all, even if it had felt like far longer), and Anthony had to take a second. “Really?”

“Really,” Neville said. He didn’t sound at all unsure of himself, and Anthony realised what an idiot he’d been to not say it back right away.

He kissed him. “I love you, too.”

Neville grinned, and god, Anthony was sure there was nothing that could quite compare to the sight of him. Anthony kissed him again. And again. And again.

After the third time, Neville pulled away, “You know, I can’t believe I’m the one saying this, but there  _ are _ first years here, and I’m Head Boy, and you’re a prefect…”

Anthony blushed. “Right. Of course.”

Neville leaned in to whisper in his ear, “We can finish this in my dorm tonight.”

And yes, Anthony really was the luckiest wizard alive.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me on [tumblr](http://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com)!  
> Please feel free to join my [Harry Potter discord server](https://discord.gg/yb6bS3c)!


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